


Discovering a Text Message

by hotelcortez



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Lee Felix-centric, Overworking, Panic Attacks, Self-Esteem Issues, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 02:19:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16466825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotelcortez/pseuds/hotelcortez
Summary: All the members know Felix's parents hadn't always approved of his dream, what they didn't know was how far this went at times.





	Discovering a Text Message

**Author's Note:**

> My writing sucks sorry!!!! xx
> 
> Warning: this fic contains mentions of self-esteem issues, overworking yourself, what could be considered verbal abuse and panic attacks so if any of that upsets you then please, please don't read. I wouldn't want anyone to be upset by my writing.
> 
>  
> 
> Also this is my first every Stray Kids fic so I hope it's okay.
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy!! xx

It wasn’t exactly hidden that Felix’s parents hadn’t always been accepting of his dream. All the members knew that Felix’s mum and dad had initially rejected it completely when he proposed it to them, refusing to let their son go on what they thought was a wild goose chase to a foreign country. Obviously, Felix had long proved them wrong, but all the members knew that Felix still struggled to make them proud. However, not all of them knew how bad this could get at times. 

There was a period, just after Felix was brought back from his elimination, in which Felix’s parents had refused to speak to him at all. They had thought that the elimination would persuade him to finally give up and find a normal career just like everyone else did. They acknowledged that he had tried but ultimately, they wanted him to admit that they had been right all along.

So, when Felix came back stronger than ever, they weren’t best pleased.

Felix had thought that his return would make his parents proud, that it was the perfect way to prove to them he was capable. He still remembers breaking down in his leader’s arms one night when he’d released how stupid and naïve he had been to think that.

He hadn’t wanted to cry in front of Chan but when his fifth call of the day to his mum had gone through to voicemail again, he hadn’t known what else to do. Chan had noticed his tension and softly asked him what was wrong, a gentle look in his bambi eyes. From there, Felix really didn’t stand a chance and he told Chan everything.

That night had ended with soft, comforting words and Chan making Felix promise him that he would always confide in someone when the situation got bad enough. Felix had nodded and gradually over time became secure enough to reveal snippets of his family life to each of his bandmates. 

He never told them everything and they all knew it, but they also knew that Felix deserved his privacy and they trusted him enough to know he would always tell them what was necessary.

Which is why, when Felix’s mum called him a few weeks later, they had been just as ecstatic as him. Laughing and crying along with him, and then quickly scurrying out the room so Felix could talk to her in peace.

Things weren’t perfect after that, but they were better, and the members had been delighted to see an improvement in both Felix’s physical and mental health. He started talking to his parents regularly and his smile when their names popped up on his phone screen never failed to brighten the room. 

Felix was like the Sun and the members always noticed when his light dimmed. 

Which is why they were all so worried now. It was two weeks until their I am YOU comeback and Felix had retreated into his shell again. His practice time had drastically increased; he was absent at meals; his sleeping schedule had been blown completely out-of-whack by the members noticing that Felix was always the first one to arrive at the studio in the mornings and the last one to leave well into the night. His smiles were less frequent, his words were less excited, and his phone was now hidden away from his members, almost like he was afraid they would see what was on it.

They had many discussions about what could be causing Felix’s sudden distress. Initially, they had decided not to worry too much; comebacks were very stressful after all and everyone had their different ways of dealing with it. But their minds had soon changed when Felix’s eye bags continued to darken and his cheek bones became gradually more prominent, concealer coating his freckles ten times more often than it used to. 

They had hoped Felix would confide in them and so gave him enough time and space that they thought would make him comfortable enough to do so. But overtime it became very clear that it was not going to happen and so the members knew it was time to take matters into their own hands. They were going to have to take a risk and do something they hated doing; organise an intervention.

Unfortunately, and like most things in life, the intervention did not happen according to plan; it actually happened accidentally. 

It was around 10am on a random Tuesday morning and the members were spread out around the kitchen. Some were eating breakfast and some were helping to clean up, a light chatter and an aura of relaxation filled the air. Their schedules were relatively clear as their management had decided that it would be best to let them rest a little before their comeback. Unfortunately, Felix didn’t seem to have gotten this memo.

He walked into the kitchen wearing dance clothes and sweating from head-to-toe, casting everyone a quick glance as they all turned to look at him before throwing his bag on the floor, placing his phone on the counter and chugging down a glass of water, his breathing still slightly irregular from the unnecessary exercise.The members shared concerned looks amongst themselves, looks that Felix pretended not to notice as he grabbed his bag and shuffled out the room, mumbling something about a shower. His exhaustion making him completely forget about his phone that he had left lying innocently on the counter. 

A collective sign was heard as Felix’s footsteps went out of ear-shot and everyone silently went back to what they were doing, the mood now having dropped to a more serious level. 

Jeongin has no idea how long he sat there trying not to think about this before he pulled himself heavily out of his seat and plodded over to the sink to wash his cereal bowl, his posture completely defeated. He was about to sigh again when a faint glow and vibration caught his attention and he looked down to his left and spotted Felix’s phone, still placed on the counter, notifying Felix that he had several text messages.

The maknae cast a hesitant glance around the room to see if anyone watching before shyly picking up the phone. He knew he definitely should not be doing this, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he couldn’t resist. His teeth gnawed slightly on his bottom lip as he told himself it was for his friend’s own good, but the gnawing became more aggressive as his brain processed what he was reading. 

 

Dad  
Felix, we’ve talked about this.  
.  
Are you really going to put your members through this again?  
.  
It was obvious from debut that you weren’t good enough to be in a band with them, you can’t force them to carry you through yet another comeback.  
.  
You can’t force me or your mother through it either.  
.  
Do you have any idea how painful it is for us to watch our son do this?

 

Jeongin’s heart sped up as he hastily unlocked the phone and scrolled though all the messages. Constant text fights between Felix and his dad seemed to have started weeks ago, consisting only of Felix begging for his father’s support only to be told how untalented he was, how much his members hated him, how he was a disappointment to the Lee family name, how he was not and never would be good enough…

A sob of both shock and upset choked its way out of Jeongin’s throat and he was forced to tighten his grip on the phone so he wouldn’t drop it, fear coursing through his veins at the thought of losing the only thing capable of telling him what was wrong with his friend.

Sudden squeaking of chair legs could be heard as the other members immediately turned to face him. Woojin, who had been standing closest to him, promptly walked over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, looking at him with soft, slightly surprised eyes.

“Jeongin,” he said, “What happened?”

Jeongin just shook his head and covered his mouth, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He tried to force them back as he held the phone out to Woojin, knowing he’d never be able to express in words what he had just found out.

Woojin’s eyebrows slightly raised in question but he silently took the phone and looked down to read it. Chan was at his side like a shot, reading the messages carefully over Woojin’s shoulder. Hyunjin went over to Jeongin and wrapped his arms around him from behind, still concerned about the maknae’s reaction to whatever had been on that phone.

The whole group watched as Woojin’s and Chan’s facial expressions changed to ones of horror, their bodies tensing up as they continued to scroll. Chan’s hand tightened around Woojin’s shoulder where it had previously been casually resting. But there was nothing casual about this anymore, not with the horrible words their eyes were scanning over on the phone in Woojin’s hand. 

When they were done, they both looked up and locked eyes with Jeongin, devastation colouring both of their faces. Chan spoke with a voice that was barely a whisper. 

“Th-This is Felix’s phone?”

Jeongin could only nod as a tear finally slipped down his cheek and Hyunjin hastily wiped it away, confusion and sadness gracing his delicate features.

It seemed Woojin wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words so instead settled for blowing out a harsh breath and placing the phone gently on the counter, swiftly dodging out the way when Minho, Jisung, Changbin and Seungmin raced out of nowhere and gathered around it, scrambling to read over each other’s shoulders. Hyunjin threw Jeongin an apologetic look before going over to join them, his long legs allowing him to peer easily the others’ heads. 

“W-We can’t let them,” Chan stuttered, taking a step away from the boys piled around the phone, “This is an invasion of privacy.”

“Chan,” Woojin said quietly, “They need to know. We all do.” Jeongin listened to the words and felt his heart stutter at the group’s oldest member sounding so scared. It made him feel so utterly clueless and helpless, because if they didn’t know how to handle this then how the hell had someone like Felix been dealing with it alone for so long? 

“What are we supposed to do now?” Jeongin whispered, looking up at Chan with the innocence and confusion only a maknae could have. He suddenly looked so young and Chan had to remember to breathe as he threw an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close, chest tightening painfully when his brain reminded him that Felix was only a few months older than Jeongin. 

Felix, who was experiencing daily insults and put-downs from the people who should love him the most. Whose dreams were being destroyed by the people who should have been first in line to help him achieve them. Chan’s heart broke with the awfulness of it and he scolded himself because he should have noticed this sooner. He was the one who knew the most about Felix’s situation, he was the leader, and so he was the one who should have realised that things had gotten so, so much worse.

A sharp intake of breath pulled him out of his dark thoughts and he raised his head to meet the distressed gaze of Minho who, being a fast reader, had obviously decided he had read enough of the messages and couldn’t read anymore. Chan scrambled in his brain for words of comfort, words that could assure his members that the situation was okay. But the situation wasn’t okay and no comforting words made their way past Chan’s lips. For once, the leader was at a loss for what to do and he didn’t like it one bit. 

One by one, the other members finished reading and straightened with similar, yet so different, grim facial expressions. Some were angrier than others; Changbin’s jaw was clenched and Seungmin’s eyes contained a fire none of the other members had seen before. But Hyunjin, Hyunjin just looked lost. Lost as to how this was happening, lost as to how a parent could speak to their child like that, lost as to how none of them had realised, lost as to how this had been right under their noses the entire time. 

Jisung was the last to finish and the only one to remain leaned over the counter. Not a single one of his muscles moved and several members had to swallow the lumps in their throats at seeing the usually hyperactive teenager so still. He was staring at the phone in his hands like he wanted to throw it out the window; not in an angry way, more in a ‘ohmygod I need to get rid of this to protect everyone’ type of way. His eyes held a new kind of terror and Minho made quick work of striding forwards and slipping the phone out of Jisung’s fingers, genuinely scared Felix’s phone would end up smashed on the ground below a second-storey window. His other hand slithered onto Jisung’s shoulder, squeezing it as he tried not to breathe too heavily in the thick silence that had suffocated the room.

Changbin was the first to break it, eyes downcast to avoid the sight of the maknae crying silently into the leader’s shoulder as he cleared his throat.

“We need to talk to Felix,” he declared shakily, “Figure out how long his has been going on and why… why he kept it from us.”

Everyone nodded except Minho, who spoke up with a slightly louder, more confident voice.

“But how? How the hell are we supposed to bring something like this up?”

“Bring something like what up?”

Everyone’s head whipped round as the deep, Australian accent made its way into the kitchen followed by Felix, wearing a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants, wet hair dripping onto his forehead. His figure stood hesitant in the doorway, eyes cautiously scanning the room.

The first thing he noticed was how caught off guard everyone seemed to be by his presence in the room, the voices in his head immediately went to town with that; whispering about how the members hated Felix, how they would be so much better off without him. He tried to block them out as his eyes hit Jeongin’s tearful gaze and Jisung’s terrified expression, worry spurring in his chest. He was about to ask what happened when his eyes finally landed on the phone in Minho’s hand, the reason Felix had come searching into the kitchen in the first place. 

It didn’t take a genius to put the pieces together; all of his bandmates looked upset and they had his phone, the thing that had been causing him horrible stress during the past few weeks, in their possession. They must have seen. They must have seen the god-awful part of his life he had been trying so hard to hide. They must have seen the truth in his parent’s words, the truth in how Felix spent his time in Stray Kids letting everyone down. They must have seen how untalented he was, how he forced them to carry his share of the weight, how weak he was at rapping, how incapable he was at dancing, how he tainted the very name of Stray Kids.

He didn’t realise he hadn’t taken in a proper breath until Seungmin’s worried gaze appeared swiftly in front of his face. The boy’s hands landing firmly on his friend’s shoulders, Felix’s name slipping worriedly out of his lips.

“Breathe,” he instructed, and Felix wheezed in a long, strangled breath, one his hands coming to clutch at his chest whilst the other fumbled for the doorway, unsuccessfully trying to hold him up. 

Fortunately, Seungmin saw and quickly reached down to Felix’s waist, pulling him close and holding him in a firm grip. If Felix hadn’t been trying so hard to stay attuned to his surroundings, he probably wouldn’t have noticed the way Seungmin’s hands were shaking. But he did notice, and another strangled breath forced its way out of his throat, this one sounding more like a sob. 

“How much?” he cried into Seungmin’s shoulder, “How much did you see?”

The room was silent for a good few seconds before Chan spoke up; “All of it,” he said, “We saw all of it, Felix.”

This only made Felix cry harder as he reached his hands up and clutched onto Seungmin, broken apologies and indecipherable words falling haphazardly from his lips. Changbin quickly ran over and held Felix from behind, one of his arms sliding around Felix’s side and the other reaching up and tangling itself in Felix’s hair, fingers rubbing soothing circles into Felix’s scalp.

“It’s okay,” he whispered in English, hoping it would reassure the young Australian, “It’s okay.”

“How?” Felix thought to himself, “How can anything be okay when you all know?” but he couldn’t bring himself to say these words out loud and so settled for clinging tighter to his bandmates, wishing to all that was holy that the floor would open up and swallow him whole. 

Unfortunately for him, the floor remained perfectly intact and he was forced to comply as Changbin gently tugged him off of Seungmin and guided him carefully over to a chair, his hands remaining clutched around Felix’s waist and tangled in his hair. Felix attempted to lean forward and bury his face in his hands, but he was stopped by Chan crouching in front of him and taking Felix’s small hands into his own, his sad eyes boring deep into the young Australian’s face. 

The rest of the members proceeded to huddle around him, not so close that it was suffocating but close enough to let him know that they were there. They unintentionally seemed to have all formed some sort of contact with one another; Minho was still squeezing Jisung’s shoulder, Jeongin had his back pressed to Woojin’s chest, Seungmin and Hunjin had laced their fingers together and of course Chan and Changbin remained clinging to Felix. 

A few more seconds of silence passed before Chan opened his mouth. Felix closed his eyes, expecting to be scolded or insulted, expecting agreement with his parents, expecting Chan to cast him out now that he had been enlightened as to how weak and pathetic Felix was. What Felix hadn’t expected was what he heard:

“Felix,” Chan said sincerely, “I am so, so sorry.”

Felix’s eyes flew open and his head whipped up, the tears frozen on his face as he stared at his bandmate with horrified disbelief on his face.

“Hyung,” he whispered, “Why are you sorry?”

“You-you’ve been dealing with this alone,” Chan explained, slightly taken aback by Felix’s strong reaction to his apology, “We shouldn’t have let you do that.”

“But-but…” Felix stammered out, his entire body starting to shake, breaths becoming more frantic and scared, “You shouldn’t… you didn’t… it was me… it was…” Felix’s confusion, guilt and sadness all rolled into one as the speech died on his lips, his brain no longer supplying the words his mouth couldn’t even keep up long enough to say. His body screamed at him for help, causing him to practically vibrate as breathing became harder, harder, harder. 

“What do I do?!” his brain screamed as he clutched at his hair, pulling forcefully on the strands, hoping, praying, wishing that it would somehow ground him, “What do I do? Your parents hate you. The members all know. Your parents hate you. Your members blame themselves. Your parents hate you. What do I do?! What do I do?” Strangled cries left his throat as he continued to wheeze, his brain becoming louder, louder, louder. Tears coated his freckles, the concealer he’d thrown on that morning to cover them up now long gone, his brain screaming at him again to not be so vulnerable, not be so weak, not be so goddamn helpless in front of some of the only people he had left in his life.

“I’m sorry!” he cried through his failing attempts at breathing and it was then he felt his entire world shift. He suddenly became aware of the numerous pairs of hands on his shoulders as he was pulled gently off the chair and laid down with his head on what felt like someone’s thigh. His hands were tugged away from his face and squeezed softly in someone’s grip and suddenly there was a gentle palm wiping the tears from his cheeks and another sliding soothingly through his hair. Realisation of all this caused Felix’s thoughts to quieten down long enough for him to hear a firm but soothing voice speaking from above him, trying to ground him.

“Felix, baby, it’s okay,” it said in English, Chan’s soft Australian accent floating through the air, “Felix, keep breathing for me. I’m right here, we’re all right here. Just keep breathing. That’s it, you’re doing so well.”

Slowly but surely, Felix’s lungs stopped tightening up and his breaths became less ragged. The relief made it easier to think clearly and Felix used this to calm the voices in his head. Gradually, he became more aware of his surroundings and was able to bring his eyes up to meet Chan’s, the person whose leg his head was resting on.

The leader looked down at Felix with concerned eyes, his hands still tangled in the younger’s hair. Changbin was sat a couple of inches to the right of him, one of his hands squeezing Felix’s shoulder as he tried to control the fearful expression on his face, trying not to show how badly Felix’s sudden outburst had scared him. Felix noticed, but didn’t say anything. 

The rest of the members were all crouched and knelt around where Felix was lying on the floor, Woojin being the one who was holding Felix’s hands within his own and Hyunjin the one who had wiped the tears from his face. Minho had one hand on Felix’s knee and the other wrapped around Jeongin who looked like he was shaking almost as badly as Felix had been, clearly unable to hide how scared he was of the current situation. 

Felix felt his veins turn to ice as he realised he’d forced the maknae and all of his other members, some of which got scared very easily, to witness his panic. He tried to open his mouth to apologise but was cut off before his tongue could even form the words. 

“If you’re going to apologise,” Chan stated, still in English. “Then, don’t. You have nothing to be sorry for.” Felix bit back his shock at being caught out so easily and went to speak again. 

“Then neither do you,” he said with more conviction than he thought he’d be able to muster up; his body was still weak from his panic attack. “You don’t apologise either.” 

Chan looked like he wanted to argue with that but couldn’t find the words and so settled for pinning Felix with a semi-annoyed, semi-relieved look, knowing fully that he wouldn’t be able to get through to his friend straight away but still happy he wasn’t hyperventilating anymore. 

“Felix,” he said, his voice suddenly becoming more soothing and hesitant, “I can’t promise not to apologise… we need, we need to talk about this.”

Fear flashed in Felix’s eyes and his body became rigid under his member’s hands, but he still nodded, knowing that there was no way to avoid his situation any longer. Chan watched the fear flow through his young friend but was pleased at the way Felix was comfortable enough to show his fear; it meant he wasn’t putting up walls that the members would have to pull down to help him. 

“Okay,” he said, now back to Korean, “Let’s get off the floor first.” The other members, who had been watching with curious eyes, some of them able to understand the conversation and some of them not, reacted immediately. Woojin hauled lightly on Felix’s hands, pulling him up into a sitting position as Changbin quickly grabbed Felix’s shoulders from behind and helped Woojin pull him up to stand. Felix stumbled on his feet a little and suddenly Jisung and Hyunjin were either side of him, keeping him up. The young Australian wanted to thank them, but he knew he’d be shot down before the words even left his lips. The members were kind like that and Felix, who could still barely move after his panic attack, had never been more thankful for them. 

He turned his head slightly to watch Seungmin help Chan off the floor, the leader quickly shaking his leg to try and regain feeling from where Felix’s head had been resting on it. He noticed Felix watching and threw him a blinding smile, not wanting his friend to feel guilty for it. Seungmin’s grin joined a second later from where he was stood at Chan’s shoulder and Felix felt his heart flutter happily at the sight, a feeling he had been deprived of for too long. 

Now significantly less afraid after watching Chan and Felix talking, Jeongin led the way to the living room from where he was still tucked under Minho’s arm. The rest followed and settled down on arrival, spreading themselves out over the floor and sofas but still remaining close to one another, needing the connection that always kept them strong.  
They let each other get more comfortable for a few moments before Chan loudly cleared his throat, looking expectantly over at Felix who was sitting in the middle of one of the sofas, pressed up against Changbin on one side with Jisung pressed against him on the other. He swallowed slowly before looking down, wondering where to begin. 

“It- it started when I first told my parents about the new comeback,” he stated quietly, “I told them over Skype and I’d expected them to I don’t know… smile or something. They weren’t mean about it but they weren’t pleased either, which I guess was pretty normal for them but I thought it would have made them a little happy, you know?”

Felix’s breath hitched and the others remained silent, because they did not know and unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) could not relate to Felix. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be there for him. Felix found the strength to go on when he felt Changbin hesitantly tangling his fingers into Felix’s, squeezing his friend’s hand to remind him he wasn’t alone. 

“The texts started out as arguments at first,” he went on, “They wouldn’t admit why they were against the comeback, they just made excuses like I was being worked too hard, or not focusing enough on school or something that I knew they didn’t really care about. I got more frustrated and kept asking why they refused to support the comeback, eventually my dad snapped and, whilst I was on the phone with him, started yelling about how… how he was tired of watching me embarrass him. He said that I wasn’t talented enough and that I only made myself look weak compared to all of you and that he couldn’t stand the way his own son was disappointing him like that. I didn’t know what to do so I just hung up so he wouldn’t hear me cry. That’s when the texts started and they haven’t… they haven’t stopped.” 

Felix was crying now, his words muffled slightly by another round of tears and his face being pressed into Changbin’s jacket. Jisung was shushing him lightly, slowly running his fingers through Felix’s bangs. 

No one said anything for a while, too busy processing the confession their friend had just made. It was hard to suddenly find out that someone you loved was being verbally abused on what was probably a daily basis and even harder to figure out how to fix things. But they knew they had to; they would never forgive themselves if they didn’t.

“Is that why… all those extra practices?” Seungmin was the first to speak, his intelligence helping him to put the pieces together a little faster, “You were trying to prove to them that you were talented enough?”

Felix nodded shyly and Seungmin looked down to the floor, knowing it was going to take a lot more than reassurance to help Felix learn that he was already talented enough. Felix had been told for weeks that he wasn’t by the two people he probably listened to and trusted most in the world. Their opinions would, unfortunately, always be the most valued to him. Seungmin didn’t know how the members were going to be able to undo what Felix’s parents had done, but he knew they would, because they all loved Felix and would do anything for him. The same went for all the members in the group which he knew would be a very important advantage in helping Felix feel better. 

“But, why…” Jisung’s hesitant voice pulled Seungmin out of his thoughts, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Felix slowly turned to look down at Jisung, gazing at the chubby cheeks and big, sad eyes on the face of one of his best friends. He opened his mouth to answer but found that he couldn’t; Jisung’s eyes were already glistening and Felix wouldn’t ever be able to bring himself to cause the boy more sadness, even if it meant depriving him of an answer. He lowered his head in shame and brought a hand up to cover his face, a small sob racking his body. He felt Changbin’s arm tighten around him and Jisung press further into his side and, even though he felt comforted, he hoped and prayed that neither of them would question him on his lack of answer. He couldn’t break their hearts… not again. In the end, it was Minho that spoke up.

“Felix,” he stated, eyes fixed on the floor as he took in a shaky breath, cursing his own perceptiveness for figuring it out before the others and then having to expose Felix to them, “Your parents told you that weren’t as good as us. Did you not tell us about this because… because you believed them?”

Gasps filled the room as Felix’s entire body froze. He cursed to himself, he should have known Minho would figure it out. The boy had also endured the horrible elimination process Felix had gone through, he knew the self-loathing that came with it and he knew how much harder they both felt they had to work just to keep up with everyone else. Which meant he also knew how easy it was for Felix to believe the words his parents threw at him.

Minho took Felix’s silence as his answer and his hands began to shake with sadness. Him and Felix had talked regularly after their eliminations, easily confiding in the other about how worthless and weak they felt at times, even after they had been brought back. Luckily, with the help of each other and everyone else in the group, they’d been able to overcome their self-esteem issues and could finally bring themselves to believe that they really did belong in the group. The fact that Felix’s parents had gone and undone this in the space of a few weeks upset and angered Minho to no end; he knew how hard Felix had worked to improve his mental state and he knew how horrifying it was to have such distressing thoughts. He couldn’t even imagine what it was like clawing desperately away from them only to be thrown back by the people you love most in the world. 

“You can’t believe them, Felix,” Minho said quietly but with confidence, “I know you trust them, but they do not have the right to say those things to you. What they said was cruel and downright false. It’s going to take a while for you to believe me, I wouldn’t expect you to do so straight away, but please know that none of us in this room feel that way about you.”

Murmurs of agreement rang throughout the room, the members all looking at Felix with nothing but love and pride. Felix himself felt the weight on his shoulders lessen slightly, but he refused to let it fall off completely. His brain was whispering at him to not believe them, whispering that they were only trying to make him feel better so they wouldn’t have to deal with his sadness anymore.

“But…” he stammered, “You guys are all so talented and I’m just-“

“You are just as talented,” Changbin immediately cut in, “We don’t carry your share of the weight, Felix and we are not more talented than you. People may outshine you in certain areas but that’s because you outshine them in other areas. That’s how a band works.”

“And if your parents can’t see that, then that’s on them,” Hyunjin said “We love you, we love you so much and we will not let you listen to them anymore.”  
“You can’t take them away from me,” Felix all but begged, his eyes flashing desperately in fear. He knew his parents’ actions were wrong but he couldn’t imagine his life without them, he depended on them too much. 

Chan sighed, “Felix, we’ll talk to our manager about this later. He’ll figure out what to do and how to deal with your parents. I can’t promise you’ll be able to stay in contact with them, but I can promise you this; whatever we decide to do will be what’s best for you. We will not let them make a decision that we think will hurt you and we will be right by your side every step of the way. You are not alone in this Felix, not anymore. We’re going to help you because we love you and you deserve to be here, no matter what your parents say.” 

The leader finished by crouching in front of where Felix was on the sofa and grabbing his hands, squeezing them with reassurance as he gazed into the tearful eyes of his bandmate.  
“It’s going to be okay, Felix” he said, “We’re going to make this okay.” And when Felix burst into tears again, Chan could only pull him into his arms and whisper comfort into his ear, smiling when all the other members joined in, some of them shedding their own tears. It was a hot, cramped and uncomfortable position but Felix realised that when he was squished like this, sandwiched between his friends, he didn’t feel hot, cramped or uncomfortable… he felt loved.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that wasn't too bad?? I know my writing isn't the best.
> 
> I would appreciate any comments or kudos or anything.
> 
> Twitter: @hotelfelixxie - I follow back and sometimes I post little mini drabbles that are too unedited or short for Ao3 if you'd like to check them out (they're in my threads) xx
> 
> Please have a blessed day xx


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